The government's first charges in a stock-option backdating scandal have put corporate America on notice: It's time to 'fess up, if you haven't already. What's more, prosecutors are signaling that they have a low threshold for what qualifies as a crime in corporate pay abuses, some legal experts said. The criminal and civil charges filed Thursday against former Brocade Communications Systems Inc. Chief Executive Gregory L.

In an annual ritual that companies have come to dread, the California Public Employees Retirement System on Wednesday named six firms that it says must improve financially and adopt more enlightened rules for corporate governance. The companies on the 2006 edition of CalPERS' "Focus List" are Brocade Communications Systems Inc., Cardinal Health Inc., Clear Channel Communications Inc., Mellon Financial Corp., OfficeMax Inc. and Sovereign Bancorp.

A federal judge denied a new trial for former Brocade Communications Systems Inc. Chief Executive Gregory Reyes, the first top executive convicted of backdating stock options. District Court Judge Charles Breyer rejected arguments that a government witness recanting her testimony amounted to new evidence. Reyes was convicted in August of 10 charges of conspiracy, fraud, making false filings and falsifying records for backdating grants and hiding the practice from auditors and investors, inflating Brocade's revenue.

With the U.S. stock markets closed today in observance of Presidents Day and with little economic data on the calendar, the direction of equities this week will be dictated by corporate earnings. And the gloomy parade is expected to continue, after sour predictions last week from tech giants Nortel Networks Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Retailers dominate the quarterly earnings announcements this week, with bottom-line news expected Tuesday from Home Depot Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Shares of data storage equipment maker Emulex Corp. lost more than a third of their value Friday and pulled down the storage sector after the company said it expected weaker full-year sales than Wall Street had expected. After an early trading delay, Emulex shares plunged, closing down $8.34at $15.27 on the New York Stock Exchange. Merrill Lynch storage analyst John Roy said he did not think the company's guidance was terrible news, but he noted, "People are looking for bad news."

With the U.S. stock markets closed today in observance of Presidents Day and with little economic data on the calendar, the direction of equities this week will be dictated by corporate earnings. And the gloomy parade is expected to continue, after sour predictions last week from tech giants Nortel Networks Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Retailers dominate the quarterly earnings announcements this week, with bottom-line news expected Tuesday from Home Depot Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Last month, Home Depot, the No. 1 home-improvement retailer, announced it would miss earnings estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter as the effects of the slowing U.S. economy hampered sales.

U.S. authorities declared Tuesday that Jacob "Kobi" Alexander, the former Comverse Technology Inc. chief executive charged in a stock-option backdating case, is a fugitive and asked for the public's help in finding him. In a joint statement, the FBI and U.S. Marshal's Service said Alexander was being sought "for his role in a multimillion-dollar stock options scheme." It also said an Interpol notice for Alexander's arrest was issued July 31.

The former human resources director of Brocade Communications Systems Inc. was sentenced Thursday to four months in prison and fined $1.25 million following her conviction for backdating stock-option grants. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco told Stephanie Jensen before sentencing her that he believed her remorse was genuine. "The sentence is to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct," Breyer said. "You have lived a very modest life. You have never used money in a flamboyant way."